I love bagels. I love anything that has to do with bagels, whether it’s simply a toasted plain bagel with some butter or cream cheese (often I choose both – sue me), or a B.E.C. on a sesame bagel, or it’s an everything bagel stacked with the works, like scallion cream cheese, smoked salmon, onions, and capers, I am all in! If you are from the tri-state area, you know the importance of a solid bagel shop, as we take this stuff very seriously, because what the heck would we do without a hearty breakfast sandwich in the morning? As luck would have it, Ridgefield needed a new bagel shop to take the place of what had previously been Steve’s Bagels, and in November of 2023, the same location on Main Street became Ridgefield Bagels and Bakes.
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, the NYC born and nationally beloved brand known for its made-from-scratch dairy and vegan ice creams, will open a scoop shop in Westport on February 6. The launch marks a return to its roots for co-founders Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen who are Fairfield County natives and whose ice cream journey began here twenty years ago.
In celebration, Van Leeuwen Westport will offer $1 scoops on opening day (Feb. 6) from 3pm-5pm and free totes to the first 100 customers beginning at 3pm.
The scoop shop will also showcase a special limited-time offering created by Westport-based cookbook author and creator Julia Dzafic (@lemonstripes). The vegan sundae features scoops of strawberry shortcake ice cream and banana pudding ice cream, and is topped with sprinkles, hot fudge and a “party hat” AKA a sugar cone.
Fayyaz Bhinde and his wife, Rida Niazi, used to travel from their home in Meriden to New York City whenever they wanted a halal smash burger. When they first got married, they’d head to the city two hours each way, for dinner and dessert. After they became parents, they realized traveling with a toddler would be much more difficult.
When their daughter was a year old, they tried to make the trip to New York for dinner and got stuck in a snowstorm on the way back, enduring bumper-to-bumper traffic from Greenwich to New Haven while their child was “crying her lungs out,” Bhinde said. At that point, they decided “never again” to the lengthy travel, and began thinking about opening their own restaurant closer to home.
Get those stretchy pants out of the deep, dark depths of your closet…don’t worry, we all have a pair! Once a year, these pants are necessary, as holiday excitement overtakes the part of the brain that tells us we’re full. We fight that voice that tells us to stop, that third and even fourth helpings of mashed potatoes and red wine aren’t going to help us cope with that obnoxious uncle your mom sat you next to out of spite. You know what will help? Pie and pie only. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, as you can eat as much as you want without being judged, though they’ll still try. But keep your head held high, as this year you can brag about the wonderful pies you’ve spent hours upon hours picking out. You even preheated the oven and scooped out perfect balls of vanilla ice cream. So don’t let anyone tell you that you did nothing, because ice cream is not easy to scoop.
All throughout Connecticut you can find plenty of delicious pie options, whether you want your pies fruity, custardy, creamy, or gluten free. As they say, Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, and while we celebrate our family, friends, furbabies, and crazy uncles we’ve never met, it is important to recognize the true Thanksgiving savior: pie. Lucky for you, this guide is organized by county, so scroll down to find yours! Gobble, gobble.
“One of the things we hear all the time is, ‘We had no idea you were here!’ And once they’re here, they always come back.” For over 20 years, Ridgefielders and those way further out knew exactly where to find Sarah and Bernard Bouissou.
From “a uniquely American, French inspired restaurant and bar” to “a uniquely American, globally inspired restaurant and bar.”
For The Benjamin—which opened just before last summer in the former Bernard’s Restaurant and Sarah’s Wine Bar space—and owners Rob Moss and Dave Studwell of Washington Prime and B.J. Lawless of B.J. Ryan’s, B.J. Ryan’s East, and BanC House, they knew that a year later they’d have to switch up the restaurant’s philosophy. Call it a pivot if you want, but according to Studwell, it wasn’t just one thing that needed changing.
“I’d like to say it was one thing,” he says. “Honestly, we were high on French, but not everyone wants caviar, foie gras, and smoked trout all the time. Ridgefield is a family driven town and we didn’t realize that.”
One of the many quintessential summer experiences in Connecticut is driving out to your favorite ice cream shop for a frozen treat. Across the state, seasonal ice cream shops are open for the season, and year-round locations ramp up production to make sure everyone’s sweet tooth is satisfied. Whether your dessert of choice is ice cream, gelato, or Italian ice, there are numerous options for you to try. And, thanks to the abundance of dairy farms in the region, there is no shortage of farm-fresh ice cream, either!
This handy guide will help you find ice cream shops that are ready to serve you this summer. Many of these locations have daily specials and rotating flavors, so be sure to visit again to try the latest menu items. This guide has been separated into counties so you can easily find the ice cream shops nearest you. Cheers!
The Delamar Hotels have added yet another offering to their ever-growing list of experiences. They recently launched their Afternoon Tea program which can be enjoyed at all of their locations.
We recently paid a visit to Artisan in Southport to get the tea on this new offering. Guests can enjoy this Afternoon Tea every Wednesday from 2:00 – 4:00 PM. For $50+ per person you will enjoy a variety of signature sandwiches, pastries and desserts as well as a selection of green, herbal or black tea served in your own individual teapot.
In a small shopping center off a main thoroughfare in Wallingford, CT, across from a McDonald’s and a Rite Aid, a unique bakery is challenging the status quo of baked goods in central Connecticut. At Kouign, Chef Chelsea Tripp is giving classical Patisserie a facelift, creating innovative pastry concepts like cranberry brie danishes and blueberry cardamom scones in an area that has historically lacked culinary distinction.
“It was a lot of chocolate on chocolate when we opened here in 2021” Tripp says with a wry smile. As someone who’d “rather eat a cheeseburger than a slice of cake,” Tripp creates pastries that meld sweet and savory in unexpected ways, with a menu that changes each week. “People find it weird at first, but then they try it and enjoy it,” she says, describing how she incorporates ingredients such as miso and turmeric into her sweets. “It just works – I promise I won’t steer you wrong,” she declares.
Lady Wong, one of New York City’s hottest bakeries, is now delivering to Connecticut and Westchester. With its innovative desserts rooted in Southeast Asian tradition, the bakery has evolved from a pandemic era delivery service to one of New York City’s hottest bakeries. Founded by the dynamic Greenwich, CT-based husband and wife duo, Mogan Anthony and Seleste Tan– Lady Wong will give Fairfield County and Westchester foodies something they've been missing — a special occasion cake or pastry that’s at the center of their table and conversation.
I can count on one finger how many times I’ve had a smoked cheeseburger in our general area.
The smoked burger is seemingly elusive. My first came in 2019, in Irvington, at a BBQ joint that’s no longer there. I’m not saying it’s impossible to find one, I’m just saying it’s rare—that’s an on-purpose meat pun.
In Connecticut, two spots where you absolutely can find a smoky, beefy, beast of a burger, are Hoodoo Brown BBQ and Hindsight Barbecue that were both recently named in terrific piece on Texas Monthly (link HERE) that you absolutely should read.
Little Riggs sits on the edge of the Stuart, McKinney National Wildlife refuge on the Long Island Sound. Riggs opened 6 months ago from Chef John Kronfeld, who operated the very successful breakfast truck, The Chef Truck, until he opened Little Riggs, transitioning his uniquely delicious breakfast menu into a sit down experience. To call this place a hidden gem isn’t wrong, but this clichéd term is a tad overused these days… It’s like a half buried treasure. Among the locals it isn’t buried at all, and they have taken it by storm.
This little outpost that seats just 30 in the wintertime, is slightly larger than a hole in the wall and certainly significantly more elevated. It’s the type of place you want to go to for a leisurely comforting breakfast on a Sunday morning, but it’s not just a breakfast joint, offering significantly more than just morning fare, and lucky for those of us who do love breakfast food, we can now enjoy it beyond traditional breakfast hours. Kronfeld will be launching dinner service this week, and we will be the first in line.
Hartford Baking Company announces a new location in South Windsor! It's expansion time! Again! Hartford Baking Company is delighted to announce that they will be adding a fourth retail location in the Spring of 2024. The new cafe will be located at 150 Sullivan Ave in South Windsor CT, and will have the same vibe, menu, and bread selection of the two current West Hartford locations, plus an expanded menu and some other exciting new offerings.
In various rankings online, stuffing generally comes in first place on the Top 10 list of Thanksgiving foods. I personally cannot argue with that for one hot second. Desserts such as pumpkin or chocolate pie have hovered around 5th or 6th place, respectively, wistfully lagging behind mac and cheese and mashed potatoes but ahead of the love-it-or-hate it green bean casserole.
Ask Forrest Pasternack about being back in Ridgefield and he’ll tell you that “there’s nothing quite like home.”
Already well traveled in this area and in New York as a renowned chef at several acclaimed restaurant, Pasternack may be best known to locals from his five-years when he headed up the kitchen at the O.G. farm-to-table restaurant Bailey’s Backyard from 2013 – 2018.
After a handful of years away, Pasternack is back!
But where’s he been all this time?
Well, a bunch of places and one big one at the same time.
Earlier this summer, I was in attendance for one of the friends & family previews of The Benjamin, a new French – American restaurant in Ridgefield that took over the historic property that was once home to Bernard’s and Sarah’s Wine Bar.
Sweet Ashley’s, the adored Norwalk ice cream spot, which has been around for 30 years has reopened this spring in time for a delicious summer! Frank Lanzo (Former owner of Nordic Fish in Fairfield) and his wife Judie, longtime Norwalk residents, decided to take over the business. As ice cream lovers with culinary experience, it seemed like a no brainer.
“I’ve got a culinary background, I cooked my whole life, I went to culinary school in the eighties… now I heard this was for sale and what a great thing to keep going,” Frank Lanzo said. “I’ve been in Norwalk now for twenty two years, I live very close, who doesn’t love ice cream?
Ice cream on a hot day. Ice cream on a rainy day. Ice cream for dinner or to delight a toddler. Ice cream just because. It’s summer and all of these reasons are 100% legit. Hell, any time of the year they are, right? Connecticut currently ranks #15 in the US for the most ice cream consumed (zippia.com) nationally. However, NY, NJ, VT, and RI eat more…guess this list is just what we need to show them what us Nutmeggers are made of. Or at least, what we enjoy on a hot summer afternoon. Grab a cone, enjoy the drips, and have a summer piled high with the creamy, dreamy stuff. One more thing: for your ease of finding these sweet establishments, we have broken the list down by counties in CT!
maman, NYC’s beloved French Bakery & Café, is expanding to Connecticut with its first location in Greenwich (98 Greenwich Ave). Opening June 18th, the Provençal-inspired café, created by co-founders Elisa Marshall and Benjamin Sormonte, will bring its fan-favorite salads, sandwiches, made-famous-by-Oprah Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies to the Greenwich community.
In true maman fashion, the decor will feature florals, signature toile print, and vintage and antique furniture, all drawing inspiration from the South of France. Brokered by Brand Urban, Greenwich’s full-service real estate advisory and brokerage company, maman Greenwich is the perfect spot to savor a morning coffee or pastry or grab brunch or lunch with friends. With 2,300 sqft of space, maman Greenwich is also the perfect spot to host events with your closest friends and family.
Maman Greenwich will be open Monday - Friday from 7:30am - 6pm and Saturday-Sunday from 8am - 6pm. On opening day, Maman will have a cookbook signing with Elisa from 10am-12pm, and a Father’s Day Special, serving a complimentary S’mores A La Minute Cookie for dads with any purchase!
Ridgefield’s West Lane is about to look a whole lot different after the transformation of Bernard’s Restaurant and Sarah’s Wine Bar to The Benjamin, brought to you by a trio of well-known Norwalk restaurateurs in Dave Studwell and Rob Moss of Washington Prime and B.J. Lawless of BJ Ryan’s Restaurant Group.
